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Every once in a while a game comes along that you can tell is going to polarize people into love it/hate it camps. The things it does well are offset by other elements that are either slightly off or just plain don't work, and it's all down to personal taste as to whether the good bits overwhelm the bad. Personally, I find Odin Sphere fun and addictive despite issues ranging from slightly annoying to insanely aggravating, but it's not going to be that way for everyone.
Odin Sphere is five stories in one, woven together to tell a larger legend. The Demon King Odin wants the Crystallization Cauldron and its activator, the ring Titrel, and everyone gets caught up in this quest. Like some hyper-melodramatic fantasy version of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World crossed with Pulp Fiction, the various characters run into each other in the most surprising places as they quest across the lands, dealing with their own problems and the chaos brought about by Odin's desires. To keep everything straight, there's a timeline where everyone's cut-scenes run in parallel, so you can see how the storylines fit together. Watch out for the juvenile melodrama, though, because the stories are drowning in it.
Thankfully, the gameplay comes off better, and has a a good number of systems to keep track of. Combat is the most straightforward, with one button that can be tapped to attack or held down to defend. Each character has a basic four-hit combo, but their unique weapons cover the screen in different patterns. They also have a set of individual moves as well, such as glide for the Valkyrie Gwendolyn or an air-spin attack for the Pooka-bunny Cornelius. It's a simple but effective system, good for fast-paced fighting when half a dozen enemies get in your face at once.
One thing to be careful of, though, is that enemies don't stun when you start a combo like in most fighters. If an enemy is pulled back to deliver a hit, smacking him first won't stop it from happening, and while it's not unfair, it takes a bit of getting used to. Less fun, though, is the attack meter, which gets reduced with every weapon swing or blocked attack. Not attacking for a few seconds refills it, and standing still fills it faster, but when it's empty you're left swaying and defenseless, screaming "Move, you idiot!!" as the enemies pour on the damage.
The enemies populate 2D stages, side-scrolling affairs that wrap around like a tube, and clearing them out unlocks the exits. The overall level is composed of a linked web of stages, and a map is available to help make sure you've cleaned out all the goodies before taking on the final section. The stages are represented by rings, with a star rating for difficulty, and also show which ones have sub-boss fights, where the stores are, and what the reward is on completion. Killing that last enemy gets a graded score based on completion time and damage taken, and the higher the grade the more goodies in the end of level treasure chest. Usually that ends up being seeds and Material vials, and here's where things start getting a bit tricky.
Money is nice (if a bit scarce) but the real currency that powers the world of Odin Sphere is phozons. This is the life force that's released when enemies are defeated or potions made, in the form of little balls of light that float around until the hero's weapon draws them in. There are two experience bars, one for the unique crystal weapon each hero wields and another for hit points, and phozons are responsible for both. Drawing phozons in directly raises the weapons' experience as well as powering up the magic gauge, but using them to increase hit points is a little more involved.
Eating food not only heals, it gives experience to the hit point gauge. Fruits, berries, and even sheep can be grown from seeds, and the more useful it is, the more phozons it takes to ripen. At first, the only option is to chow down whatever you can grow, but later on a diner and restaurant open up that allow ingredients to be combined for some serious level gaining. Scavenging all the items for the major recipes can take some doing, but gaining 100HP in a shot is a wonderful thing. When the final HP tally at the end of each character's main story is roughly 600-ish, and enemies can easily take off 100HP with a single hit, every bit counts.
So with all this neat stuff supplementing Odin Sphere's 2D beauty, why the opening-paragraph ambiguity? Because, while the supplementary systems are well thought out and integrated, the combat itself is just a bit too repetitive for its own good. There are no quarter-circle-forward and attack combos, no charge moves, and no super specials. Just the four-hit chain, block, air attack, and a few spells. There are dozens of enemies with different attack patterns to learn, but the same basic moves will be used over and over and over again. And while the high difficulty level isn't a problem, certain enemies get some truly annoying movement patterns later in the game. Creatures that teleport away after being hit just once, or cause damage while remaining insubstantial, get old very fast.
Despite this, I've found Odin Sphere to be very playable, and even addictive. Growing plants and mixing so many potions even Keith Richards would say "Damn, take it easy!" breaks up the stages quite nicely. Each stage is generally only a minute or two of intense brawling action, barring the ones that need to be repeated as many times as it takes to squeeze out a victory, so it's easy to play in bite-size chunks. Everything being well animated and easy on the eyes doesn't hurt either, even when the rare slowdown moment shows up. It's just that, for each thing Odin Sphere gets right, it's necessary to hang a qualifier on it. On the plus side, 2D side-scrolling brawler RPGs don't hit major game consoles every day. If you can turn a politely blind eye to its issues, then Odin Sphere is a fun and engaging fantasy action-fest.
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